The scandal was just too stunning! Here is how ABC News reported it about a year ago: “Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company.

“An ABC News investigation has found,” announced Brian Ross, “the sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers.”

What was the problem? For the last 225 years in this nation’s history, the news media would have bragged on the company, Trijicon. However, in today’s environment, the media is openly hostile to anything having to do with the Lord.

“U.S. military rules,” revealed Ross in his expose, “specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious ‘crusade’ in its war against al-Qaida and Iraqi insurgents. One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to 2 Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

But wait a minute: through American history such Scriptures were freely shared with America’s troops – along with admonitions to pray for our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen – offered by such presidents as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

“Other references,” revealed the agitated Ross, “include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as ‘the light of the world.’”

“John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, ‘Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

The manufacturer confirmed to ABC News that it had added the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military for years – and was unapologetic. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions “have always been there” and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them.

The practice was begun by the company’s founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

The company’s vision is still described on its Internet website: “Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom.”

“We believe that America is great when its people are good,” says the Trijicon website. “This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals.”

But in today’s environment, such talk cannot be tolerated by our politically correct media.

ABC contacted “spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps” and reported that “both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABC News report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military.”

“It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws,” said Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that seeks to enforce separation of church and state in the military.

Trijicon had more than $100 million in government contracts in a recent fiscal year. The Michigan company won a $33 million Pentagon contract in July 2009 for a new machine gun optic, according to Defense Industry Daily. The company’s earnings from the U.S. military jumped significantly after 2005, when it won a $660 million long-term contract to supply the Marine Corps with sights.

Following the ABC News report, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps said the Corps was “concerned” and would discuss the matter with the weapons manufacturer.

“We are aware of the issue and are concerned with how this may be perceived,” said Captain Geraldine Carey in a statement to ABC News. “We will meet with the vendor to discuss future sight procurements.”

Carey said that when the initial deal was made it was the only product that met the Corps needs.

However, a spokesperson for Central Command, the U.S. military’s overall command in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he did not understand why the issue was any different from U.S. money with religious inscriptions on it.

“The perfect parallel that I see,” said Major John Redfield, “is between the statement that’s on the back of our dollar bills, which is ‘In God We Trust.’ We haven’t moved away from that.”

Have we?

Want to read more? CLICK HEREto read whether faith in Jesus is just too shocking for the news media to handle.
To read “Why do they want to censor Jesus?” CLICK HERECLICK HERE to consider whether we are headed for a God-free society
Is Jesus an illegal word that cannot be uttered in public anymore? CLICK HERECLICK HERE to read about recent legal efforts to ban church bells
And CLICK HEREto consider a British journalist’s concern that Christianity is becoming criminalized in Western society.